Antec 900 vs 900_2

[dat722]

Newegg has the Antec Nine Hundred for $65 dollars AC and AR.

Should i pay the extra money for the Nine Hundred Two?

 

[E4g1e]

Neither of those two cases is worth considering at anywhere near their going prices.

This is because both of those cases are surprisingly cramped on the inside (from rear to front). Long graphics cards will not fit inside either of those two cases. And motherboards which put the SATA ports out of the way of longer expansion cards (at the front edge of the motherboard) must be completely dismounted from the case just to connect additional internal storage drives because access to those ports is blocked by the permanent 5.25" drive cage frame. The stock fans are also surprisingly noisy given their size and cooling ability.

So in other words, there are better cases for $65. And I would not include any mail-in rebates at all when I factor in the price of any component. What's more, most mail-in "rebates" are now in the form of a prepaid debit card, which is extremely difficult to use up every single penny without triggering non-use and/or overlimit charges. Those charges could potentially wipe out the entire discount - and then some. So you might end up paying more money overall than you would have had you purchased the items at full price.

 

[Dangman]

I concur with E4g1e about the Antec 900 and 900-2 cases: Not worth the money, even at $65 AC and AR.

Better cases for the money:
$70 - Cooler Master RC-590-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$70 - Cooler Master CM690 II ATX Case

 

[seismicshift]

Believe the inquiry is for which among the 2 cases.

If it were me I would get the 902. Better layout and built in washable filters w/external fan controllers included.

 

[Mk32]

My main rig i housed in a 900/2 and i frankly do like it, i went with 900/2 since of the black interior and other features look above.
Yes it isn't as massive as other classes and probably will not take 11inch 5970s but a gtx260 fits fine.
And the drive cages are easily removable.

 

[E4g1e]

And the drive cages are easily removable.

They are. But the frame that holds the cages in place isn't removable at all - and it gets in the way of front-edge-mounted internal SATA ports on an increasing number of regular-sized ATX motherboards. What's more, the SATA ports on those motherboards are stacked in pairs, with one on top of the other. This means that only one of the two ports in the pair may be a 90° right angle plug. And in the 900 series cases there is insufficient clearance between the mobo and the drive cage mounting frame for some types of SATA plugs to fit.

In addition, some graphics cards that are at or just smaller than the maximum limit require that the wires leading to the PCI-e power connector to be bent completely out of shape (near 180°). This extreme bending may lead to both the PSU burning out and the premature death of the graphics card. Some of the newer long graphics cards address that issue by putting the PCI-e power socket(s) facing towards the top of the card rather than the end of the card.

I concur with E4g1e about the Antec 900 and 900-2 cases: Not worth the money, even at $65 AC and AR.

Better cases for the money:
$70 - Cooler Master RC-590-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$70 - Cooler Master CM690 II ATX Case

Danny,

My main rig is now housed in a CM690 II Advanced case, which sells for a bit more than the basic CM690 II. Most of the extra $15 or so goes to the 3.5" SATA HDD dock on top of the case. This allows the use of "internal" SATA HDDs for additional off-site (or more specifically off-computer) storage.

 

[Dangman]

Danny,

My main rig is now housed in a CM690 II Advanced case, which sells for a bit more than the basic CM690 II. Most of the extra $15 or so goes to the SATA HDD dock on top of the case. This allows the use of "internal" SATA HDDs for additional off-site (or more specifically off-computer) storage.

Yeah TBH, didn't really know the major difference. But even the basic CM690 II would still be better than the Antec 900.

 

[soekev]

This is because both of those cases are surprisingly cramped on the inside (from rear to front). Long graphics cards will not fit inside either of those two cases. And motherboards which put the SATA ports out of the way of longer expansion cards (at the front edge of the motherboard) must be completely dismounted from the case just to connect additional internal storage drives because access to those ports is blocked by the permanent 5.25" drive cage frame. The stock fans are also surprisingly noisy given their size and cooling ability.

Between just the 900 and 900/2, I'd definitely go with the 900/2.

I originally picked up the 900/2 because it was on a very short list of cases that had 8 I/O slots and I needed 8 for a set of 4 GX2s for Folding@Home.

However, I now have my main rig housed in a 900/2, and it's true, the internal space is -very- cramped in terms of installing SATA cables, and it was hand crampingly difficult to add a few more SATA cables into the Gigabyte GAX58-UD3R motherboard after already installing.

If you do choose the 900/2, then I would absolutely pre-install the 6 SATA cables ahead of time and route them to your drive cages.

Great recommendation, btw, on the CM690 II Advanced. I checked out the features page, and it has all of the features of the 900/2 plus some things that I would have liked included w/ the 900/2 that would have been used in my particular rig such as:
* 1.8"/2.5" SSD drive sled adapters
* 6 Modular/Removable Drive Bays
* Integrated HDD Dock on the top of the case